You're a Rebar Magnet
by Topazicatzbeth
Summary: A car chase ends in disaster leaving Danny with quite a recovery ahead of him. Focuses on recovery.
1. Chapter 1

**Note: A big thanks to wenwalke for all her help once again. This one is different to my usual style. It focuses more on the recovery so there isn't as much action.**

 **Disclaimer: no copy right infringement intended.**

 **Chapter One**

As Steve threw the car around the corner in pursuit of their latest bad guy, Danny reached up to grab hold of the handle above the door to try and stop him self being thrown around so much. His right shoulder was already bound to be bruised from the harsh right turn Steve had taken two blocks ago. He cursed, realising it wasn't there.

He had been forced to leave his beloved Camaro at the shop to have the handbrake cable replaced after Steve had worn it away during a previous pursuit that The Navy SEAL insisted required a handbrake turn to apprehend their perpetrator. Now they were travelling in one of HPD's cars, on lone to them, as Steve had stated his truck was no good for chasing down criminals.

Bracing his hand on the dash board instead, he looked over at his partner, "will you ease off a bit, please."

"I'm not letting him get away, Danny." Steve spat back, not taking his eyes off the car weaving in and out of the traffic ahead of them.

"I understand that, but if we end up a pile of metal after you wreck the car, he is gonna get away anyway." Danny yelled back, his fingernails on his left hand digging in to the car seat upholstery.

"No he won't, Chin and Kono are right behind us they'll take him down." Steve smirked, risking a glance at his partner to see if he got a rise.

"Eyes on the road," Danny yelled back then looked in the mirror. Chin and Kono were indeed following behind them, and Danny had no doubt that Chin was probably mirroring his actions as Kono had the wheel and followed Steve's tactics for pursuit driving.

As they took another hard right, Danny tried once again, "Steve, please just ease off a bit."

"Will you relax," Steve yelled back. "How many times have you been in a pursuit with me driving, and how many times have we crashed? Will you stop wetting your pants?"

"While I don't approve of your style of pursuit driving, I will normally concede that you keep us safe, but please, remember this isn't the Camaro, it won't handle the corners like she does."

"Fine," Steve conceded, easing off the gas pedal a touch. "Where the hell does he think he is going?" Steve added, seeing the car in front take a sharp left into a building site. Thankfully it was a Sunday so the site was shutdown for the day, meaning the risk to civilians wasn't there.

"Eli Guest used to work as a building foreman, maybe this was his site. He thinks he can lose us on familiar turf." Danny suggested.

"The hell he is." Steve followed after the car causing Danny to yelp as the back end skidded out a little too far.

"Sorry." Steve apologised as he quickly corrected the over steer.

The car in front kicked up a cloud of dust from the dirt road making visibility a problem, and both men strained to see more than a few meters ahead of them.

"Steve, watch out." Danny screamed as he suddenly saw the car they had been chasing headed straight at them. Guest must have done a 180 and was now playing chicken with them.

Steve swerved to avoid a collision, but the back end of the car once again skidded out, causing them to spin out of control. Steve fought hard to counteract the spin, but they were brought to an abrupt halt as Danny's side of the car slammed into a concrete structure.

Steve fought to push the airbag out of his face, and release his seatbelt. A quick glance at his partner told him that Danny was conscious, and seemed ok, so he scrambled out of the car pulling his gun from its holster, ready to fire after the fleeing car.

As the cloud of dust began to settle Steve smiled to himself as he saw the car had been brought to a halt by Chin and Kono blocking the exit, both teammates stood, guns raised and pointing at the driver's side of the car.

"Nice work guys." Steve called out as Chin moved in to secure Guest who had managed to take them across town in his desperation for freedom.

"You two okay?" Kono called out, both she and her cousin had watched in horror as their friend's car had stopped its spinning, with a sickening thud, as it made contact with the concrete block.

"Yeah," Steve said re holstering his weapon, "although I think Danno is about to chew me out for crashing the car." He joked.

HPD arrived on scene, and Chin handed Eli Guest over to them. Steve nodded his thanks then turned to the car.

"You planning on getting out anytime soon?" He called to Danny. He knew Danny's side of the car was blocked by the concrete mass, but he expected his partner to climb over the seats to provide back up to his team, most likely swearing profanities as he went.

When no answer came Steve frowned, and started to walk back to the car, a knot growing in the pit of his stomach with each second his partner didn't reply. He had left the door open, so he bent down to check what the hold up was, and the knot jumped up into his throat. He felt bile rise with it. Danny's airbag had deflated now, allowing Steve a full view of his partner, who sat staring out the front window, eyes glazed. His right hand was pressed up against his side. But it was the sight of the rebar pole that had punched its way through the metal of the car, and had continued its path of destruction right into his best friend's abdomen, that made him want to vomit up his lunch.

 **TBC**


	2. Chapter 2

**Note: thanks for all the great reviews. On to chapter two.**

 **Chapter Two.**

"Oh god, Danny." Steve swallowed back the need to vomit. Straightening back up his eyes frantically searched for another member of his team, seeing Kono searching Guests vehicle he yelled. "Kono, we need medics and a fire crew here now, Danny's trapped and hurt." He then climbed into the car, trusting that Kono would take care of his order.

"Hey buddy." Steve placed a hand on Danny's shoulder.

Danny slowly turned his head, clearly already in shock, and gazed at his partner.

"We get him?"

"Yeah Danno, HPD have him, now let's check you out. I need you to stay really still for me ok?" Steve put his hand on the dashboard and leaned round his partner to get a better look at the entry point.

The rebar had entered his partner's side around his bottom rib, Danny's shirt was soaked with blood, and blood was dripping down onto the car seat, and staining his pants.

"I don't feel so good, Steve." Danny's voice was just above a whisper.

"Yeah, I bet." Steve replied while pulling off his shirt, reaching around his friend, and struggling to press it up against the wound.

"Steve, what's going on? I thought you were both ok." Chin came over to them at a jog.

"I thought we were, but Danny's got a piece of rebar sticking into his side. I've no idea how long it is Chin, or how far it's penetrated. We need medics, now."

"Kono's already on it, brah." Chin leaned in to see the damage for himself.

"I need to get into him better, Chin. Can you find something to knock out the front window?" Steve saw his friend's eyes start to dip. "Hey Danny, stay with me."

Chin responded immediately, grabbing a blanket from the trunk of Kono's car and signalled to two HPD officers to join him. Kono climbed into the back of the car and Chin passed the blanket into Steve.

"Use this to protect yourselves from the glass." Steve hurried to place the blanket over himself and Danny, passing the end to Kono to secure around their ailing friend.

Chin then ordered the two officers to smash the windscreen with their night sticks. A few well placed hits and the windscreen was broken, and the glass cleared away. The blanket was removed and Steve quickly got out of the car, climbed up on to the hood, leaned in through the opening, and renewed the pressure on Danny's abdomen around the rebar.

"Argh." Danny groaned and attempted to push Steve's hand away.

"Sorry Danno, but I need to try and stop the bleeding." Steve watched his friend's eyes slip closed. "Danny, wake up. Come on open your eyes." Steve shouted, but Danny failed to obey, finally losing his grip on consciousness.

After what seemed like an eternity, but in reality was only a few minutes, the sound of sirens could be heard, and an ambulance, and fire truck, entered the building site.

Ani, a small, dark haired, EMT exited the passenger side, joined soon after by Jonah, a tall native Hawaiian, from the driver's seat. The two of them were an odd couple, little and large, but the team breathed a sight of relief, knowing that Danny could be in no better hands. Unfortunately Ani and Jonah were no strangers to the team, and were usually the ones that drew the short straw, and attended any call outs to do with Five-0.

Chin quickly briefed them, and the fire Chief, Chief Henderson, on the situation then Ani joined Danny in the car, slipping into the drivers' seat.

"You good there, Steve? While I assess his vitals?"

"Sure." Steve replied. "He lost consciousness a few minutes ago, I've managed to slow the bleeding outside, but God knows what damage it has done internally."

Ani nodded to him knowing that he was right, then quickly set about checking Danny's BP. Jonah hovered by her side, unable to fit into the car to assist. Ani turned to him, and before she could ask for anything, he handed her a cervical collar. She took it with a smile. Once she had managed to secure it around Danny's neck, Jonah passed her an oxygen mask, and tank. She slid the tank into the foot well, and secured the mask over Danny's face.

Kono watched from her seat in the back, one hand on Danny's shoulder ready to help restrain him, if needed, to prevent him moving and causing further damage. The two medics reminded her a little of Steve and Danny. No words were needed, Jonah instinctively new what his partner wanted. Jonah passed in the IV kit, and Ani soon had an IV established delivering much needed fluids to help improve Danny's much too low blood pressure.

Happy that she had done all she could for the moment, Ani exited the car and signalled the fire Chief over. Steve and Kono watched as Chin joined them, and the three started to discuss how they were going to extract Danny. Steve wished he could be part of that decision, but knew he was needed by Danny's, in case he started to wake. Plus he still had his hand pressed to Danny's side.

Seconds later Ani got back in the car, and Steve turned as he heard Chief Henderson clamber up beside him and survey the situation.

"Like I said." Ani told the chief. "We need the bar cut with as little movement as possible, and then we need to secure the bar and remove him without causing it to shift."

"I understand." Chief Henderson nodded. "We can cut him out of the car, get him secured on a back board, but that rebar is going to need some careful cutting. It's going to take some time to do this properly."

"What are you waiting for then, Chief, get cutting. I want him out of here as soon as possible." Steve ordered.

"We will sir, now if you could move out of the way. My team will start on the car. We need the roof off before we can get to that bar."

"I'm not going anywhere." Steve used his best defiant stare.

"Sir, I really must..." Chief Henderson started, but was cut off abruptly.

"It's Commander McGarrett, and I'm not leaving my partner. Now get to work."

The fire Chief sighed then turned to his men to give orders. He had heard of Commander McGarrett, and decided it was best not to fight him.

Returning with a heavier fire blanket, the fire crew quickly spread it over Steve, Danny, and Ani to protect them from any sparks from the cutting tools.

"Commander McGarrett." Chief Henderson called out. "I'll concede and let you stay, and the medic will obviously stay, but I have to insist the rest of your team vacates the car."

Kono was about to protest when Steve looked at her and signalled for her to go.

"I've got him Kono, go. He'll be ok."

Kono skulked out of the back seat and headed over to join Chin, both of them could only watch on as the fire crew started the laborious task of removing the car roof.

 **TBC**


	3. Chapter 3

**Note: Thanks for all the reviews. Now to start getting Danny out of the car.**

 **my iPad is not a happy bunny and looks like it will need to go in for repair. Looks like I made a good choice in buying the kids a tablet each so I can steal theirs to keep updating.**

 **Chapter Three**

From his position Steve was the first to see his partners return to consciousness. Seeing slight eye movement under closed lids, Steve tried to coax his friend.

"Danny? Danny, are you with me?"

Slowly Danny opened his eyes, and they started darting from side to side, observing the blanket and the closed off space. He could feel the oxygen flowing through the mask, but immediately started to panic. Attempting to remove the oxygen mask, his arm was stopped as a small hand wrapped around his wrist. Unable to turn his head to find his source of restraint only added to his level of panic, as he became more awake and aware of the fire in his belly.

"Danny, calm, down, breathe," He heard Steve, and after blinking several times, he managed to clear his vision enough to see his partner, almost in his face.

"S..eve."

"Yeah, Danno, I'm right here, and Ani is right beside you. You need to leave the oxygen mask on."

Danny settled his arm back down, and took a few breaths, "hurts..." He managed to force out.

Ani immediately grabbed her bag and started to draw up some morphine.

"This should help, Danny." She injected the morphine into the port on the IV.

Danny's breathing gradually settled, and his eyes levelled with Steve's. "What .. appen..ed?

"A piece of rebar came through the car when we hit the concrete. It's stuck in your side." Steve explained.

"Rebar?" Danny repeated.

"Yeah buddy. It seems you're a rebar magnet."

Danny groaned at the bad joke. "Why...are we ...so closed in. I don't like it." Danny eyed the heavy blanket.

"The fire crew are working on cutting you out of the car, Danny." Ani explained. "It's there to protect us."

"Cutting? They're cutting my car?" Danny asked groggily.

"No, we weren't in the Camaro today buddy, remember." Steve's voice didn't show the worry written all over his face.

Danny seemed to think for a few seconds, "oh yeah, handbrake."

Ani rechecked Danny's vitals as Steve watched Danny battle to stay awake. Suddenly there was a loud noise, and Steve felt the roof of the car being lifted away. The blanket was pulled back and Danny sighed with relief.

"Alright, Commander, we are just gonna secure your boy on to a back board to prevent him moving, and then we will see about cutting through that rod." Steve nodded as Chief Henderson explained. Jonah came over with the back board, and he and Ani worked seamlessly together to secure it in place.

"I called in for helo support." Jonah told Ani, "They're bringing blood too."

"Good thinking, it's gonna take some time to get through this rod." Ani sighed.

"What? They cut through the car pretty fast. It shouldn't take long to cut through the rod?" Steve questioned, confused.

"I'm afraid it will, Commander." Chief Henderson was trying to get a closer look at the rod. "We were able to use our electric cutting equipment for the car, we can't do that with the rod, we are gonna have to saw through by hand."

"What? Why?" Steve could see his partner was semi conscious, and he wanted him at the hospital as soon as possible. He was also dying to move from the awkward position he had gotten himself in, to support his friend.

"Steve, we need to keep that bar as still as possible. If it moves, it's going to cause Danny a lot of pain. But that could be the least of our worries. It could move and cause more damage." Ani carefully explained.

"Sawing through by hand will reduce the chance of that happening." Chief Henderson added.

"Let's start then." Steve ordered.

"Ok but we need to be able to get in, you've done a great job there Commander, but I need you to move now."

Steve looked like he was about to argue, so Ani piped up. "Steve jump in the back, you don't have to leave him."

Steve nodded, slowly climbed off the car, and made his way around to the back, stretching out his legs as he went. He could see Chin and Kono clearing an area for the helicopter, off in the distance, to land in. He climbed into the back of the car and placed his hand on his friend's shoulder.

The fire crew started to saw at the rod with slow purposeful strokes, as the helo touched down.

"Ani... That hurts." Danny groaned, and clenched his hands into fists.

"I can give you a bit more morphine." Ani was already drawing up the drug. "I can't give you too much though because it will affect your breathing." She then injected it into the port on the IV. After she'd finished, she rechecked his vitals and shook her head,

"Jonah, do they have the blood?" She shouted to her partner, who ran off to brief the helo team, and retrieve the precious red blood cells.

Ani explained that she was going to start a second IV. Danny responded with a slight groan, and Steve rubbed his shoulder in reassurance. Jonah returned and handed Ani a pack of life saving blood.

"They have two more if we need them." He informed her.

Ani started the blood. Then leaned over the best she could to check Danny's wound and palpate his abdomen.

"How's he doing?" Steve wished he could see his partner better.

"His blood pressure is lower than I'd like, and his heart rate is elevated. But the blood should help with that. All things considered, he's doing rather well."

"Well! He's barely conscious."

"That will be the low BP and morphine. He's settled, which is the main thing." Ani reassured.

"We're almost through now." Fire Chief Henderson announced twenty minutes later. "We need to brace the rod. This is the most dangerous part."

"I got you Danno." Steve reached around the seat and braced his partner the best he could. "You're almost out now." Steve whispered in Danny's ear as two of the fire crew took hold of the rod to stabilise it.

Danny groaned as the final cut was made. Despite everyone's best efforts to secure the rebar, the final cut had sent a shock wave through his abdomen, which seemed to radiate throughout his whole body. His breathing quickened, and his world began to spin. He had felt a darkness dancing around him for quite some time, and when the pain finally became too much, he decided to give in and let it take him under.

 **TBC**


	4. Chapter 4

**Note: I'm just loving these reviews, please keep them coming. The action is starting to come to an end, now it's time to focus on the recovery.**

 **Tomorrows update will be later than usual as my son is having a GA for an out patients procedure and we have to be there early.**

 **Chapter Four**

Ani heard the groan, and saw Danny's face go slack. She immediately leapt into action, rechecking her patient's vitals, and demanding they get Danny out of the car straight away. Within minutes the fire crew, with Steve helping, had Danny out of the car and they were running to the helicopter.

Chin and Kono watched, as Steve had a slight argument with the crew from the helo, then he followed his partner, along with Ani, and the door was slid shut. Seconds later the chopper was rising into the sky.

"They are ready for him at the hospital." Jonah informed them. Limited in being able to help Danny, he had maintained communication with the helo crew, and the hospital. Making sure they were all aware of Danny's condition, and the progress the fire crew were making.

"They're going to take him straight into surgery to see what damage the rebar did. Dr. Pearce is waiting for him. I'm gonna pack up here, and head to the hospital to collect Ani."

"Thanks, Jonah. We'll head there too." Chin felt grateful that Danny was now about to get the medical treatment he needed.

Thanking the fire crew for all their help, they made their way to Kono's car, leaving HPD to finish dealing with the scene.

When they arrived at the hospital they were directed to the surgical waiting room. There they found Steve staring out of the window, obviously lost in thought, as he didn't seam to realise they were there.

"Steve." Kono gentle called, not wanting to startle her friend.

"Hey, guys." Steve turned to greet his friends. He slowly moved away from the window and settled down in one of the plastic chairs. Chin and Kono joined him.

"Any news yet?" Chin asked.

"No, they took him straight to surgery, said it would be a while. They need to figure out what damage the damn bar did."

"He might have got lucky, and it didn't hit anything major, like last time." Kono said hopefully.

"Since when has Danny been that lucky? Beside his blood pressure was dropping the whole way here. He was on the verge of crashing when they took him in to surgery." Steve remembered the shrill of alarms that surrounded his partner as he was whisked away, out of Steve's reach.

"Shit." Chin exclaimed.

"Yeah." Steve agreed. "I'm guessing they managed to stabilise him. We'd have heard the bad news already by now."

"Dr. Pearce is with him right? She will get him through it, she always does." Kono tried to boost their spirits.

"Yeah." Steve agreed. "He's in the best hands possible."

The three teammates sat back in their chairs, settling in for a long wait.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

It was two in the morning when Dr. Pearce finally entered the waiting room. There she found Kono lying across several chairs, her head resting on her cousin's knee. Chin had his head thrown back, soft snores filled the air. Only Steve was still awake, once again staring out of the window, coffee cup in hand.

"Steve." She called out in much the same way Kono had. The SEAL's head whipped around, and he jumped up to join her. Several times throughout the gruelling eight hour wait, Dr. Pearce had sent out a nurse, or a junior doctor, to update them on Danny's condition. Now Steve was eager to hear it from the horses' mouth.

"Doc, give me a sec to wake them up. They'll want to hear it too." Steve gently roused the sleeping cousins. Both Chin and Kono were awake and alert in seconds, ready to hear the doctor's news.

"Well the good news is he made it through surgery. He was very lucky the emergency responders did such a good job in the field. If the rebar had moved, he would have bled out at the scene." Dr. Pearce explained.

"So what's the bad news? What's the damage?" Steve needed desperately to know what his friend was facing.

"The rod entered on his right side and cracked his lower rib, thankfully it is only cracked so didn't affect his lung. The rod continued through his abdomen and hit his liver, and spleen." Seeing three terrified faces she continued. "Fortunately the rod remaining in place stemmed the amount of blood loss, and we were able to repair the damage to his liver. We did, unfortunately, have to remove his spleen but he'll manage fine without it."

"So he's going to be ok?" Kono asked desperate for reassurance.

Dr Pearce took a deep breath.

"Because of the path of the rod, we had to make sure there was no more damage, which required us to remove his bowel from his abdomen and check every inch of it. We found two small punctures, which were easily repaired, and we did a full abdominal wash out to reduce the chance of infection. However there were complications."

"What kind of complications?" Steve asked nervously.

"Because of the trauma, his bowel became oedematous, swollen with fluid." She explained to the confused teammates. "Because of the swelling, we weren't able to return all Danny's bowel to his abdomen, and close him up."

"So what does that mean for Danny?" Chin probed.

"For now we have covered the rest of his bowel in a sterile bag, and secured it to his abdomen. We are giving him drugs to bring down the swelling, and hope to return the rest of his bowel in a day or so. Then we should be able to close him up."

"Oh god." Kono's hand flew to her mouth.

"Right now Danny is stable, but I have to list him as critical. He is being moved to the ICU, where he will be kept sedated, and on a ventilator, until after the second surgery."

"Can we see him?" Steve asked desperate to be reunited with his friend.

"Of course. I've arrange the largest room for him, and there is a couch in there. It will be much comfier than these plastic chairs."

"Thanks a lot, doc, we really appreciate it." Steve stood up.

"It's no problem. Guys, Danny is looking at quite a recovery ahead of him. He will be in the ICU for quite some time, and then even longer in a normal room. It's going to be a while before he is able to eat anything, and he is going to need a fair bit of help to get back on his feet, and fully recovered." Dr. Pearce said sadly.

"But he can recover? Fully?" Chin picked up on what the Doctor said.

"Yes, given time, and baring any complications, he should recover fully. But he is going to need all your support, which I know won't be a problem."

"We'll get him through this, don't worry doc. We'll be with him every step of the way." Steve stated.

"God help the poor nurses." Dr. Pearce broke a smile for the first time. "Come on, I'll take you to him."

 **TBC**


	5. Chapter 5

**Note: Back from the hospital and cuddled up with my little man.**

 **Now back to Danny.**

 **Chapter Five**

The three teammates stood at the foot of Danny's bed, lost for words at the sight of their friend. Danny looked lost amongst the masses of wires and tubes. Steve let his eyes roam down his friend's body. Danny looked deathly pale, his skin taking on a slightly greyish tone. His lips looked dry, slightly parted around the ventilator tube that protruded from his mouth, and was connected to tubing that ran to the bulky machine that sat beside the bed, forcing air in to his lungs with a click and whoosh that seemed to bounce off the walls, and fill the room with noise.

A thick tube descended from his nose connected to a bag that was resting off to the side. It had a small amount of bile, and a lot of air, in it. A central line was placed in Danny neck, several lumens attached to bags above the bed, providing the detective with fluids, antibiotics, and sedatives. There was a familiar beeping from the cardiac monitor that mingled with the noise of the ventilator.

Steve glared at the sheet covering his friend, lifted off his abdomen by a bed cradle, knowing the destruction that lay beneath it. Danny's hands lay limply by his side, his left arm still sporting the two IV cannula Ani had inserted, one of them being used to give another bag of blood. His right arm had an arterial line inserted to allow the medical staff to constantly monitor his blood pressure, and oxygen levels. Below the bed sat a vacuum pump connected to a drain that Steve presumed ended in his friends wound. A bag of urine hung next to it. Steve shuddered at the amount of medical support his best friend needed.

"Do you think he's in pain?" Kono finally asked breaking the silence.

"Nah, cuz, he's enjoying his beauty sleep." Chin pulled her into a hug, seeing the tears that filled her eyes.

"I should have slowed down." Steve sank into a chair beside the bed and took hold of Danny's left hand. "I'm sorry, Danny, I should have listened to you."

"What?" Both Chin and Kono asked confused.

"He asked me to slow down, said I didn't know the car like the Camaro. He was right. I couldn't control the skid." Steve sounded devastated.

"Steve, he came right at you, there was nothing you could do. Danny will know that. You know he likes to ride you, but he trusts you implicitly." Chin stated.

"You always do this, Steve." Kono wiped the tears from her eyes. "Blame yourself. You need to, stop, it. Danny needs you to be strong for him, not beating yourself up with guilt."

"It was just bad luck the rebar was there." Chin added. "And Danny is going to be fine, eventually."

Steve dropped his head, held Danny's hand against his forehead, and let out a big sigh. Then he looked back up at the cousins and nodded.

"I'm good in the chair here, why don't you two try and get some sleep on the couch."

The cousins agreed and retreated to the far side of the room to the couch, giving Steve the time alone with his partner. Steve sat back in the chair and closed his eyes, but still kept a firm grip on Danny's hand.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Thirty six hours later, and Steve still maintained his place by Danny's side. The first morning he had taken the time to step outside the hospital and call Rachel to inform her about what had happened, promising to keep her up to date and let her know when Grace would be permitted to visit. After that he had only left Danny while the nurses took care of his personal care, and to use the bathroom himself. Chin and Kono had been at the hospital as much as possible, but the governor insisted they close the case against Eli Guest.

Dr. Pearce had been to examine Danny an hour before, and pleased with his progress had declared that she would take him back to surgery to close his abdomen that afternoon. Danny proved to be a fighter, once again, and his vitals all improved, and thanks to the antibiotics he was showing no sign of infection. She had explained her plan to keep Danny sedated, and ventilated, until the following morning to give him time to recover from the surgery.

Steve looked up as, Dawn, Danny's nurse entered the room with a trolley. She smiled sweetly at him as she started taking down Danny's vitals and replacing his IV bags. Steve watched in fascination as she hung a new bag containing a milky white fluid that would be Danny's source of nutrition for the foreseeable future. She then pulled down the red plastic bag that hung over the drip stand, to protect the liquid from the sunlight. It was amazing how that bag of fluid could provide Danny with everything he needed to heal and survive.

"Looks like pizza today, Danno." Steve joked to his unconscious friend. "Don't worry. I'm sure Dawn told them no pineapple."

"In deed I did." Dawn laughed, knowing only too well Danny's hatred of the fruit on his pizza. "The orderlies will be here soon to take him to surgery. He will be there for a few hours, why don't you take the time to nip home and shower?"

Steve seemed to consider it,

"I promise, I will call if he gets out sooner, or there are any problems." Dawn added which sealed the deal.

"Fine, ok." Steve agreed just in time as the orderlies arrived. He waited until Dawn had readied her patient for transport and Danny was pushed out of the room, before finally leaving the hospital and headed home with plans of going for a swim, then showering and eating before heading back.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve returned to the hospital feeling refreshed, having eaten a meal that didn't consist of take out, or canteen food. He had taken the time to update Rachel, and also call Danny's parents, reassuring them that he and the team would take good care of their son. Chin and Kono had informed Steve that they were nearly done with the case, and the governor had given them all the following week off so they could be there for Danny.

Returning to the ICU he found Danny already back in his room, and Dawn busy fussing over the monitors, while Dr. Pearce reviewed his notes.

"Hey, great timing." Dawn smiled. "He just got back, I was about to call you."

"How's he doing?" Steve noted the sheet was now laid flat against his partner's stomach.

"He did great, Steve." Dr. Pearce smiled. "He was a real trooper, nice and stable through out. We were able to stitch him up, and everything looks nice and healthy. We just need to let him rest now. Then we'll wake him up tomorrow."

"That's great." Steve resumed his place by Danny's side. "You did good buddy." He gave his friends arm a gentle squeeze.

"He'll be awake and causing trouble by tomorrow evening." Dawn joked. "Make the most of the silence while you can."

"Right now, Dawn, I'm looking forward to hearing one of his rants." Steve smiled knowing it was true, Danny's rants could be exhausting, but this forced silence, seeing his friend so still, with a tube force down his throat, his breathing being taken care of by a machine, was pure torture.

 **TBC**


	6. Chapter 6

**Note: Thanks for the reviews. To the guest who asked if I have any medical experience. I'm a dialysis nurse but I used to work on the renal HDU. I also do a fair bit of googling as I like to be as accurate as possible.**

 **Thank you to everyone for the reviews, hope you'll stick with me as we enter the recovery bit of the story.**

 **Chapter Six**

Another twenty-eight hours later, and Chin and Kono were right by Steve's side waiting for their friend to wake up. Danny had remained stable throughout the night, so Dr. Pearce had already stopped the sedation and been able to remove Danny from the vent. Now only a nasal cannula was in place, alongside the wide bore nasal gastric tube, allowing them to see their friend better. While still pale, the greyish tinge had gone.

Chin and Kono were filling Steve in on how Eli Guest had finally confessed to murdering his boss, so they missed Danny's first waking moments.

Danny had been lulled back to consciousness by the sound of his friends talking. Knowing he must be safe with them near by, he allowed himself to doze, the floaty feeling making him aware of the good drugs in his blood stream. The familiar smell of antiseptic tickled his nose, making him more aware of the cannula and tube running down his throat. His attempt to clear his throat alerted his friends to his waking.

"Danny, are you awake?" Kono took hold of his hand.

"Yeah." Danny replied his eyes still closed.

"Good to have you back with us, brah. You think you could open your eyes?" Chin coached.

"Hey." Danny finally forced open his tired eyes and looked up at his three friends.

"Hey, yourself." Steve smiled hitting the call button to alert the medical staff.

"How bad?" Danny's eyes roamed the room and he let out a sigh.

"Bad, Danny." Steve replied, "But you're over the worse now. Do you remember what happened?"

"Car, damn rebar," Danny replied licking his lips. "Can I have some water?"

"I'm afraid not." Dawn said entering the room, Dr. Pearce following. "You're nil my mouth at the moment, but I can give you a swab to suck on."

Danny nodded and was grateful for the small amount of relief the pink sponge swab allowed him.

"How's your pain?" Dr. Pearce gave him the quick once over.

"I've got a dull ache in my stomach, it's not too bad." Danny answered.

"That's good, if it gets any worse let us know. We have you on a continuous pain infusion, but we can increase it if needed. You've had some pretty major surgery to your abdomen, and right now your bowel is kind of asleep, so we need to keep you nil by mouth until it wakes up. The tube down your nose is to relieve the pressure in your stomach, and drain any bile produced. Once your bowel kicks in again we can swap it for a fine bore NG, and start feeding." Dr. Pearce explained.

"That sounds great." Danny said sarcastically.

"I know." Dr. Pearce sympathised. "But right now we need to get nutrition into you so you can heal. We are giving it to you via IV at the moment, but it carries a big infection risk. So once you're able to eat I want to stop it. It will take you a while to build up to solid food, so the NG feeding will be important to get enough calories in."

Danny nodded in acceptance, he trusted Dr. Pearce to do what was right for him, and if she said it was needed then he would go along with it. Besides he was too exhausted to argue.

Dawn offered him another swab, which he gladly accepted, and then she helped him to sit up a little. Steve could see the pain on his friends face as abused stomach muscles were used for the first time. Once they were sure Danny was comfortable, and his pain had dialled back down, Dawn and Dr. Pearce left him alone with his three friends.

"You ok?" Steve asked eyeing his friend sceptically.

"Yeah." Danny replied closing his eyes briefly then opening them again, and asking, "How long was I out?"

"Today is day four." Steve answered.

"Well that would explain why you look like crap. Let me guess, you've been camped out in that chair for the past four days, blaming yourself for what happened?"

"You know him too well, Danny." Kono giggled which made the blonde smile and turn his gaze back to Steve.

"It wasn't your fault, you goof."

"You asked me to slow down." Steve sat back in his chair and bowing his head.

"You did. There was no way you could have foreseen that happening. The dirt made it hard to control the car. If that rebar hadn't been there I'd have been fine. So stop the guilt trip and tell me how my baby girl is doing. If I've been here for four days, I presume she knows what happened."

"She's good, D." Steve smiled and sat forward. "She's anxious to see you, but I've been keeping Rachel updated, and your parents."

"Oh god, are they freaking out?" Danny worried, obviously exhausted from the brief conversation.

"Pretty much," Steve nodded. "Once you're feeling a bit better you have some phone calls to make."

"Great." Danny sighed.

"It's ok if you want to sleep, Danny." Kono had been watching his eyelids dip.

"Sorry... not much company." Danny yawned.

"It's fine, get some rest, Danny." Chin instructed. "I'm pretty sure Dawn and Dr. Pearce have plans to get you up out of bed soon, so you're gonna need it."

Danny groaned. He felt exhausted. Keeping his eyes open was tiring enough. The thought of having to sit up and move, didn't appeal to him at all.

Steve, Chin, and Kono smiled at each other. It was good to have Danny back.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Danny was relieved to find out there was no plan to get him out of bed that day. That lovely task was to be saved for the following morning. He had spent most of the day sleeping, waking a few times to find his friend still in his room, and holding short conversations with them, before falling back asleep. Dawn had been in and out of the room keeping a close eye on her patient, replacing fluids, and increasing the pain medication when Danny had woken up to an increased level of pain in his abdomen.

Stirring again he realised it was late in the evening. Hushed whispers told him his friends were still there, but they seemed to be having a heated discussion. Reaching for the bed remote Danny managed to raise the bed a little so he could see them better.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Three heads whipped around and they made their way closer to the bed.

"Hey Danny, nothing's wrong. Do you need something?" Steve asked.

"No, I'm fine, but you guys were arguing, a whispered argument, but still arguing, why?"

The three friends looked at each other sheepishly. Kono was the one to explain.

"Chin and I were trying to get Steve to agree to go home tonight. He needs to get some proper sleep."

"I've slept just fine." Steve retorted. "That couch is rather comfortable."

"It's not the same Steve, and you know it. I've told you I'll stay tonight." Chin responded.

"I don't need anyone to stay." Danny tried to ease the tension.

"Yes you do." Came three voices straight back at him.

"Fine, ok." Danny rolled his eyes. "I want Chin to stay."

"What?" Steve asked looking hurt.

"You, my friend, need to go home and get a good nights' sleep. Then you can be back here, nice and refreshed, to help me when they decide it's time to torture me, and make me get out of bed."

Steve cracked a smile, he knew that was going to be hard for Danny, and he appreciated that his friend wanted him to be there to help him through it.

"Ok, fine. I'll go home." He agreed, much to the relief of his friends.

"Great," Kono smiled. "Come on boss, I'll shout you some food. You behave yourself." She instructed Danny.

"I'll try." Danny promised. "In fact, if you could send Dawn in to see to my pain relief, I'm sure I'll be back to sleep in no time."

"You in pain?" Steve asked concerned.

"A bit," Danny said ghosting his hand over his stomach. "But Dawn will take care of it, now get out of here. I'll see you tomorrow, and make sure you ring Grace and tell her Danno loves her."

"Will do, buddy." Steve smiled then he and Kono left the room.

 **TBC**


	7. Chapter 7

**Note: aussiejo I'm English. Apologies if my English terms confuse some of you.**

 **Warning: talk of icky stuff.**

 **Chapter Seven**

Chin was woken from his sleeping position on the couch by Danny calling out his name. He was up in a second, his blanket scattered across the floor.

"Danny, are you ok? Are you in pain?" Chin hit the nurse call button.

"No, I feel sick... Really, sick." Danny explained while taking big breaths in an attempt to quell the nausea.

Emily, Danny's night nurse entered the room, Chin explained what was wrong and she helped Danny to sit up. Seeing the drainage bag from his NG full of bile she donned on a pair of gloves and used a basin to empty it. She then grabbed a large syringe and started to express more bile. Chin's stomach rolled at the smell. No wonder Danny felt so sick with all that inside his stomach.

Danny nodded that he finally felt better, and Emily left the room to dispatch the bowl, and contact the night doctor. Chin stood by as the doctor entered and introduced himself as Dr. Yokes then proceeded to examine Danny. Chin did his best to keep his face blank when he saw the length of the incision down his friend's stomach. It started just under his breast bone, ran down, and disappeared under the sheet that was pulled down to just above his pubic bone. Chin was confused as he saw the doctor use his stethoscope on Danny's stomach.

Replacing the sheets, Dr. Yokes, a young doctor of Chinese decent, addressed both Danny and Chin.

"I'm going to order an X-Ray but it's only to confirm my suspicions. I'm sure you have an ileus, a blockage in your bowel. Considering what it's been though we were expecting it, which is why you're nil by mouth."

"Will he need more surgery?" Chin asked, wondering if his friend was strong enough for yet another surgery."

"No." The doctor smiled. "It will resolve on its own. We just need to continue as we are. We can give you medication for the nausea, and the nurse will make sure they aspirated the NG every few hours, so the bile doesn't build up." He explained to Danny.

"K, good," Was all Danny could manage, and Chin gently squeezed his friends shoulder.

"We'll get you something for the nausea now, try and get some rest." Dr. Yoke left the room.

Emily also left, and returned a few minutes later to inject something into one of the spare lumens on Danny's central line. Seeing the lines of pain on her patients face following the exam, she also bolused some pain relief, sending Danny back off to sleep. Chin sat down in the chair by Danny's bedside, reluctant to take his place back on the couch. Instead he watched his friend sleep.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve arrived early the next morning, to find Chin slumped awkwardly in the chair beside Danny, fast asleep. Danny however was awake and smiled, seeing his friend looking much better for a night in his own bed.

"Hey." Danny whispered.

"Hey." Steve replied amused by the sight of his slumbering friend.

"I don't think he slept much last night. Think I worried him." Danny explained.

"Why, what happened?" Steve asked immediately on alert.

"Down boy, I'm fine. It's just some blockage thingy in my bowel, made me feel sick."

"Blockage, that's not, nothing, Danny." Steve's voice rose enough to wake Chin.

"It is. It's fine. It just needs time to settle." Danny replied.

"Is he telling the truth?" Steve asked Chin who rubbed at his sleepy eyes.

"Yeah he is." Chin confirmed. "It will resolve on its own."

"Ok, good. Why don't you head home man, you look almost as bad as Danny." Steve handed his friend a breakfast container.

"Thanks brah, I'll be back later Danny." Chin said before heading out of the room.

"I saw Dawn starting her shift as I arrived. She said she was coming straight in to help you get out of bed." Steve informed his partner.

"Do I have to?" Danny whined, wincing at the thought of what lay ahead.

"You certainly do." Dawn breezed into the room, taking out a sheet from the cupboard, and laying it over the chair. "You've been lying in that bed far too long. You don't want a chest infection, do you?"

"No." Danny sighed resigning himself for what was ahead.

"There's a good boy." She smiled dropping down the bed rails. "Just give me a second to arrange all these wires and tubes."

Danny and Steve watched as she started pinning the drains to Danny's gown so they would move with him, and slip on a pair of hospital issue green foam slippers. She then set up a trolley and remover the arterial line from Danny's wrist.

"One down, only another five, or so, to go, eh, Danno?" Steve smiled. It was only a small thing but it was at least progress.

"Ok we're good to go, Danny. We are just going to get you sitting on the edge of the bed first. Steve, if you can help guide his legs for me? I'll take the top half with all the lines."

Danny moved his arm to help push him self up, and on the count of three they managed to get him upright. Steve moved closer and put his arm around Danny's back, to help support him.

Danny's eyes were clamped shut, and his breathing came in fast, short pants.

"Slow down your breathing, Danny. Nice and steady. Do you need more pain relief?" Dawn asked calmly.

Danny shook his head, and steadied his breathing. His stomach was on fire, but he didn't want the pain relief to knock him out before he made it to the chair. "

"I'm ok." He finally opened his eyes.

"You ready to try standing?" Dawn unhooked the catheter bag from the bed, and hooking it onto her pocket, to keep her hands free for the lines. She had considered asking Steve to hold it, but thought Danny would probably freak out at the thought of his friend holding a bag of his pee.

"Errm..." Danny tried to decide if he had the energy to stand. "I don't think my legs will hold me."

"They will Danno, you got this." Steve encouraged.

"Ok." Danny agreed and slowly pushed up off the bed.

"That's great, Danny. Now keep looking straight ahead for me, don't look down." Dawn instructed as Danny took his first tentative steps, and she guided him around.

Danny had a firm grip on Steve's arm, and was relying heavily on his friend for support. Finally turned around he was carefully lowered into the chair. Steve couldn't help but notice the tremor that ran throughout his friend's body.

"Will you reconsider that pain relief now, Danny?"

Danny just nodded, holding his hand to his stomach for support. Dawn started pressing buttons on one of the pumps near by, which beeped, and deliver a bolus of the much needed pain relief.

Checking the drains and lines were ok, Dawn fetched a blanket from the same cupboard she got the sheet, and spread it over Danny's knees. She then stripped the bed and remade it.

"You sit there for half an hour Danny, catch your breath. Then I'll come and help you freshen up, and we can get you back to bed."

"I have to do that all again, so soon?" Danny rested his head back in the high backed chair.

"Yep, and again this afternoon," Dawn smiled.

Danny gave a hysterical laugh, then looked as if he was about to cry.

"Should I be this tired already?"

Dawn came back over to Danny and crouched down in front of him so she could see him better.

"Danny, I know it might not feel like it, but you are doing really well. 72 hours ago you were in critical condition. Now you're stable and sitting out in a chair. Yes it's normal to be this tired."

"Thanks, sorry." Danny smiled at his favourite nurse.

"Don't apologise Danny. Just get some rest and I'll be back soon." She smiled, then patted his knee and left the room.

"You're doing good, Danny. Your body has been through hell. It just needs some time." Steve said trying to boost his friend.

"Yeah," Danny sighed and attempted to let his body relax.

The two friends continued talking, and before they knew it Dawn was returning to the room with a fresh gown, and started removing things from a cupboard, ready to help Danny have a wash.

"I'll head down to the canteen and grab a coffee while you finish up." Steve stepped away from the bed.

"Thanks, Steve." Dawn smiled, "oh, do you think you could ask the others to maybe bring Danny some of his hair products, I'm sure he would appreciate them."

Steve laughed as he watched the nurse attempt to brush back the blonde locks out of his friends face, only for them to fall straight back.

"I'll give Chin a call." Steve replied and left the room.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve returned to Danny's room thirty minutes later to find Danny already back in bed, and fast asleep. Dawn was still putting all the things away.

"Hey, I though you'd need a hand getting him back in."

"I did, I got one of the nursing assistants to help me. He was tired, and needed to get back in, but he did good." Dawn explained. "We'll try it again this afternoon."

"When do you think he will be moved out of ICU?" Steve asked.

"A few more days, once he's a bit stronger. He's going to sleep a lot over the next few days, but that will be good for him." Dawn explained.

"Thanks, Dawn. Thanks for everything you've done for him." Steve sat down in the chair Danny had recently vacated and opening a magazine he had just bought.

"You're welcome, Steve. Buzz me if you need anything." She left the room.

 **TBC**


	8. Chapter 8

**Note: I'd like to send a big thanks to those that are sticking with me and reviewing. I really appreciate it as I know this one doesn't have as much action. But hey, I'm not getting shouted at for nasty cliff hangers.**

 **Chapter Eight**

Danny had spent three further days in the ICU gaining strength, and repeating the process of getting in and out of bed. By the third day he had even managed a short walk around the bed.

Dawn had been right, Danny had slept a lot, but he had managed to speak to his parents on the phone, and Chin had set up a face time session with Grace so they could see each other.

Now Steve stood at the back of the room as Dr. Pearce examined Danny on her morning round. Finished listening to Danny's stomach, she replaced her stethoscope around her neck.

"Have you passed any gas yet?"

Steve watched Danny blush like every other time he had been asked that question over the past few days.

"Err...yeah a little." Danny admitted.

"That's great, Danny. I can hear bowel sounds now too. I think the ileus has settled nicely and your wound is healing well. I think it's time we get that wide bore NG out and swap it for a fine bore feeding tube. You can start taking sips of water now too, but I mean sips. Nice and steady is the way to go." Dr. Pearce explained.

"Do I really need the NG feeding? I hate this tube."

"Yes you do, Danny. Like I explained before, you need nutrition to help you heal. I promise the fine bore will be much more comfortable than the one you have now. But I really want to stop the TPN feeding. If we swap the tubes this morning we can remove the central line, drains, and catheter. We'll stop the monitoring, and get you moved to a normal room. If you hold down the sips of water today we can start feeding tomorrow, and work on building up your diet throughout the week." Dr. Pearce explained.

"Ok, you drive a hard bargain Andrea." Danny replied glad to be getting rid of the majority of the equipment he was attached to, and knowing a normal room meant Grace would be able to visit in person.

"Great." Dr. Pearce smiled and squeezed her friend's hand. "I'll leave Dawn to remove the lines, and I'll go arrange a room."

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Later that day the team were relieved to see Danny settled in a normal room. Dr. Pearce had managed to get Danny a corner room so he had windows on two sides, making it light and airy. It was a wonderful contrast to the ICU cubicle with one small window and harsh florescent lighting. Chin and Kono brought Danny in some clothes from home. So Danny now wore a light blue t-shirt and a pair of blue checked Pyjama pants that were loosely tied around his waist, careful not to rub the surgical scar.

Danny was none too pleased with the procedure to place the feeding tube, but was glad to be rid of all the rest of the lines, especially the catheter. All he had been left with was the feeding tube, and a newly sited IV cannula to continue with fluids, antibiotics and pain relief.

"So Rachel said I could pick up Grace after school tomorrow and bring her to visit." Steve explained.

"That's great. I can't wait to see her. I've missed her so much."

"She's missed you too buddy. She sends me like ten texts a day checking in on you." Steve laughed.

"Really, 'cos she's texted me three times already today." Kono laughed and the others joined in.

"What can I say, my baby loves me." Danny smiled as a nurse entered the room and set down a jug of fresh water.

"I brought you some fresh water. I'm just going to do a quick vitals check, then how do you feel about a trip to the nurses station and back?"

From his position sat in the chair beside his bed, Danny could see out of the door and down the corridor to the nurse's station that looked a million miles away.

"Er... yeah, sure." He reluctantly agreed.

Vitals ok, Danny started his walk to the station. Steve tagging along pushing the IV stand. It was slow going, and Danny had worked up quite a sweat by the time they arrived back in his room.

When the nurse suggested Danny should rest in bed, he was more than willing to agree.

The three friends felt disheartened when Danny fell asleep almost immediately, realising that even though Danny was out of the ICU, he still had a long recovery ahead of him.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve returned to the hospital the next morning. Hospital staff had refused to let anyone stay the night, now that Danny was out of ICU. Danny had also insisted he didn't need babysitting.

Visiting hours weren't due to start for another few hours, but Steve was planning on sneaking in, and if he was spotted he was sure he could get Dr. Pearce to pull some strings.

Arriving at Danny's room, he found the bed empty. Dropping the bag he had brought, he glanced down the hallway towards the nurses station in case his partner was taking one of his mandatory walks as part of his physical therapy regime. But the hallway was empty, all the nurses busy tending to the other patients. Just as he was starting to get concerned he heard a noise coming from the bathroom.

"Danny, you in there?"

"Yeah, you can come in, I'm decent." Danny called back, much to Steve's relief.

Steve pushed the door open and found Danny sat on a chair by the sink, attempting to shave.

He was already wearing clean clothes, and his hair was slicked back in his usual style.

"Looking good, partner." Steve smiled.

"Thanks. You have no idea how much energy this took." Danny smiled raising a shaking hand holding a razor closer to his face.

"Whoa, Danny, do you think that's a good idea?"

"If Grace is coming by today I want to look smart, besides this beard I have going on is really itchy." Danny explained raising the shaky hand again.

"Give it here." Steve grabbed hold of the razor. "If you do it Grace won't be able to see you for all the band aids."

"Thanks." Steve started with slow steady strokes across his friend's face.

The two remained in silence, as Steve concentrated on the task at hand, carefully shaving around the NG tube that was taped to the right side of his partner's face. Danny trusted Steve to do a good job, and not cut him. Finishing up Steve passed Danny a towel so he could dry his face, and smiled as the Danny he recognised emerged.

A knock at the door startled them both, and Steve turned around to see a nurse enter the bathroom.

"How we getting on in here, Danny?" The nurse, Katie, going by her name tag, asked then stopped as she saw Steve. "Commander, it's a little early for visiting hours."

"Is it?" Steve replied with a sly grin. "I hadn't noticed."

"Of course you hadn't. I suppose the warning Dawn gave me about you, and the rest of your team, was all nonsense, wasn't it?"

"Busted," Danny sniggered.

"You know Dawn?" Steve asked hoping to distract her from his early visit.

"Oh yes, we trained together. Thanks to her I've already warned all the staff to expect 5-0 at all times throughout the day. The rule still applied to the night though, you all need your rest."

Steve smiled, relieved that he wasn't about to be turfed out.

"So I see you're all done in here now, how about we get you settled and I'll start your feed going. Now that you've managed to keep the water down, Dr. Pearce is happy for you to drink more. You can even try some Jell-o for lunch."

"Hear that, Danno? Jell-o." Steve teased.

"Yay, as long as it's not the green stuff. That's just nasty, red or orange is good." Danny pushed up slowly from his seat as Katie took hold of the IV stand, and pushed it out of the bathroom ahead of him.

He chose to sit out in the chair, and Katie soon had the feed up and running. Danny eyed the bag of caramel coloured liquid being slowly pumped into his stomach with disgust.

"I hate this." He told Steve once Katie had left the room.

"I know Danny but hopefully it's only for a few days. Until you can build up to solids and manage enough for them to remove it."

"Yeah, that's what Andrea said when she swung by first thing this morning. She said she is hoping I could be discharge in about a week, but would need someone to stay with me. I don't want to put that responsibility on Grace though."

"You won't have to, you can stay with me. Grace too." Steve offered.

"Steve, I appreciate the offer, but I really don't think I'll be able to manage the stairs, not for a while anyway."

"I'll come and stay at yours then." In Steve's mind it was a done deal.

"What about work? I know the Governor gave you a week off, but that's up tomorrow."

"I'll go back tomorrow and work until you're discharged. Then I'll take a week or two off. Chin and Kono can hold down the fort, and I'm owed loads of vacation. You'll only need me around until you're more mobile."

"Thanks, Steve. I really appreciate it. You know how much I hate being stuck in hospital."

"No problem, it's the least I can do." Steve said without thinking.

"What do you mean by that? I thought we had moved past the guilt trip?" Danny sounded angry.

"I...I didn't mean that...well maybe I did, a bit. I can't help feeling a bit responsible, Danny. I was driving. You telling me, if we had traded places, you wouldn't have felt a bit guilty?"

"I probably would." Danny conceded.

"But I'm not offering to stay because I feel guilty. I'm offering because you're my friend, and I want to help."

"Thanks." Danny shifted in his seat trying to get comfy. He was pretty sure he could taste the feed, even though it was bypassing his taste buds.

"You ok? Feeling sick?" Steve noticed something was off with his friend.

"No." Danny shook his head. "I can just taste it, it's weird. Now what did you bring me today?" He pointed at the bag on his bed.

Steve smiled and started unpacking the extra clothes, magazines, and book he had brought to try and entertain his friend.

 **TBC**


	9. Chapter 9

**Note: Two steps forward, one step back.**

 **Chapter Nine**

Steve returned to work as planned, and the team immediately picked up a case, which unfortunately meant he couldn't be at the hospital as much as he liked. Thankfully Rachel had agreed to take Grace to the hospital each day after school, and Kamekona and Max, had dropped by so Danny hadn't been alone. Steve had managed to call in for a quick visit each day, get a report on Danny's progress, and catch up with his friend.

Danny was healing well and had progressed to solid foods, but his appetite was rather poor, and he was only able to eat half his meals. The NG feeding had been scaled back to over night to encourage him to eat more during the day, but still make sure he was getting enough nutrition. Now he was able to drink, the IV had been taken down and his antibiotics changed to oral.

Day five of Steve's return to work finally saw the case closed, and Chin and Kono offered to finish the paper work so Steve could head to the hospital to spend some time with Danny.

As the elevator doors opened Steve noticed the floor looked empty, all the nurses were busy with their tasks. He made his way to the nurse's station and dropped off a bag of cocoa puffs for them. They all deserved a treat after caring for his partner. He turned around and headed for Danny's room expecting to find him sat out in the chair like he had the previous nights. Instead he stopped dead in the doorway. Danny was in bed, sleeping. His cheeks looked flushed, and he was attached to an IV again.

"What the hell, Danno?" Steve whispered not wanting to wake his friend.

"Steve." A soft feminine voice called from behind. Turning he was relieved to see Dr. Pearce stood behind him, at least he wouldn't need to wait to find out what was going on with his friend.

"Doc, is he ok?"

"He's running a slight fever, and is worn out. He's been pushing himself too hard. He managed to walk down to the courtyard this afternoon."

"What? That's a fair walk." Steve exclaimed.

"Exactly. He wanted to get some fresh air and spend some time with Grace outside. Rachel followed behind him with a wheelchair, but you know Danny, stubborn to a fault. He walked the whole way there, and half way back, before he practically collapsed into the chair."

Steve shook his head, but he couldn't be mad at his friend knowing that he would push just as hard himself. "Ok, that explains why he's sleeping, but why the temp and IV?"

"I ordered a CT abdominal scan to make sure he didn't have a collection, I've just reviewed it and I'm really pleased with it. No sign of any collections and his bowel looks good. I also ordered a chest X-Ray which did show signs of a chest infection, so I think that is all we are dealing with. I'm going to put him back on IV antibiotics, and keep the fluids going, until his temperature is back down."

"Is this going to set him back?"

"Hopefully not too much," Dr. Pearce tried to remain optimistic. "I want him on bed rest until the morning, bathroom and back, only."

"He's gonna love that." Steve looked over his shoulder at his still sleeping friend.

"I know, but he needs it if he's going to get out of here soon. I'm headed home now but I'll check on him first thing in the morning."

"Ok, thanks doc, have a good night."

"I will, I'm babysitting my two nieces and we have a film and junk food night planned. Night, Steve."

Steve watched the doctor that had become the teams' friend head for the elevator. Then he turned and walked into Danny's room and sat down in the chair next to his sleeping friend.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Steve sat flipping through one of the magazines he'd brought his partner, when Danny gave a sudden cough, and the hand that had been dangling over the side of the bed pulled back and braced his stomach.

"Owe." Danny groaned as he opened his eyes and saw his friend beside him.

"You ok? You need me to get the nurse?"

"No, I just jarred my stomach. I'm good." Danny rolled onto his back and carefully sat himself up.

"You, my friend, are far from good." Steve replied. "I've already spoken with Dr, Pearce."

"It's just the start of a chest infection. The antibiotics will take care of it. Andrea is being over cautious with the fluids."

"Well knowing your habit of getting into trouble, I don't blame her. Really Danny what were you thinking walking that far?"

"I was thinking I was fed up of being cooped up inside, and wanted some fresh air. I was thinking I didn't want my daughter to see me this weak. It's bad enough she has to see me each day with this damn tube still down my nose, because Andrea refuses to let me have it removed. I was thinking I wanted to get the hell out of here..." Danny's rant was cut short by a coughing fit, and Steve placed his hand on Danny's back to help steady him as he took a few deep breaths to recover.

"I know you're fed up, Danny, but you've come so far. It won't be long before you're home. Grace doesn't care about the tube, you're her Danno, and you'll always be a superhero to her. Dr. Pearce will remove it when it's time."

"I hate it Steve, I can feel it all the time."

"Hey, it's a few more days, and then it's gone, and you're going home." Steve was concerned at how down his friend seemed. "You just need to stop pushing yourself so hard, and get some rests."

"Pot and kettle come to mind." Danny finally broke a smile. "I'm fed up of talking about me. How's the case going?"

"We closed it."

"And?" Danny probed.

"We arrested Pam Clay. You were right. She paid for a hit man to kill her uncle so she could inherit his fortune."

"Ha, what did I tell you?" Danny's spirits suddenly lifted.

"Yes, I already said you were right, Danno. You're such a super detective you solved the case from your hospital bed."

"At least this time I don't have loads of paperwork to fill out." Danny swung his legs over the side of the bed.

"Whoa, where do you think you're going?" Steve watched Danny attempt to stand. "You're supposed to be on bed rest."

"True, but Andrea did give me bathroom privileges. I've just slept for a few hours, and they are pumping me full of fluids. I need to hit the head."

"Oh, right. Ok then." Steve moved out of his friend's way.

"Ok then? Like I need your permission?" Danny snorted, grabbed his IV stand, and slowly heading to the bathroom.

Once finished in the bathroom Danny stood for a few seconds. He couldn't believe how exhausted he was from just the short trip, and his body was starting to ache from head to foot, his abused muscles shouting at him. Summoning the energy he pulled open the door, and started to push the IV through, only for Steve to leap to his feet and hold the door open. Shuffling past his friend he was about to thank him when a sudden wave of dizziness hit him, and he grabbed the IV pole tighter. Legs now shaking he attempted to take another step, only for his legs to give way, and the floor rushed up to meet him.

 **TBC**


	10. Chapter 10

**Note: ok I'm in trouble for the sneaky cliff hanger.**

 **Chapter Ten**

Steve saw Danny start to wobble, and his grip tighten around the drip stand. In two seconds he closed the gap between his partner and himself, and was able to catch Danny as his legs gave way, and he fell to the floor.

"We need some help in here." He yelled as he lowered Danny the rest of the way to the floor.

His stubborn friend was already attempting to sit up, his hand clamped to his abdomen, and eyes squeezed shut.

"Danny, will you just stay down for a sec. Let the doctors check you out." Steve pushed his friend's shoulders down.

"I'm ok, just help me up." Danny pushed back against his friend.

"I mean it Danny, stay down." Seeing the fear in his friend's eyes, Danny relented, and lay back down.

Danny's nurse, Katie, came running in after hearing Steve's yell for help. Seeing Danny on the floor she immediately called down the hall, and was joined by Dr. Yokes in a matter of seconds.

"Why is it every time I'm on call, you cause me trouble, Detective Williams?" Dr. Yokes asked seeing his patient conscious on the floor.

"Sorry, my legs just gave out. I'm fine."

"Really, when did you get a medical degree?" Katie asked as she knelt on the floor and wrapped a BP cuff around Danny's arm.

"Did he loose consciousness? Hit his head?" Dr. Yokes questioned while checking Danny's pupils.

"No, I managed to catch him, and I don't think he lost consciousness, but he was definitely dizzy."

"BP's on the low side, 97/40." Katie informed the doctor.

"How's your stomach, Danny?" Dr. Yokes had noticed that his patients' hand was resting protectively across his abdomen.

"A little sore, think I pulled the stitches, but it was fine before. I just felt really tired, then dizzy for a second, before my legs gave out." Danny answered honestly.

Dr. Yokes quickly examined Danny's abdomen. Happy that all was ok, the three of them helped Danny to his feet, and back into bed. They watched as he practically sank into his pillow. Dr. Yokes then listened to his chest, and checked the IV.

"I'm going to increase your fluid rate, that should help bring up your blood pressure, but I think this is linked to you over doing it, and the chest infection."

"So he's ok?" Steve said with relief.

"Katie will keep a close eye on his BP, but I think he will be just fine, with rest."

"Told you I was fine." Danny piped up.

"Shut up, Danny. You over did it, and just collapsed. You're not fine, but you will be. Now stop scaring to crap out of me." Steve raised his voice.

"I'll be in regularly to check on you Danny, but if you need me, just call." Katie instructed then followed Dr. Yokes out of the room.

Steve flopped down in the chair and let out a deep breath. Danny watched his friend then rolled on to his side, facing Steve. He could feel his eyelids pulling already.

"You gonna get some sleep?" Steve broke the awkward silence.

"Probably should." Danny closed his eyes. Then without opening them he continued, "I'm sorry I scared you. I'm sorry I over did it. I promise I'll take it easy."

"That's good, Danno. Now go to sleep."

"You're gonna go home tonight, right?" Danny could already sense his friends cogs turning, thinking of ways that he could manage to persuade them to let him stay the night.

"You want me to stay?"

"No. Go home, Steve. Get some rest too. You've been working a case, and coming here every night. I really am fine."

"Ok." Steve agreed. Realising that he was tired, and he would need to be on the top of his game once Danny was discharged. "But I'm staying a bit longer."

"You're gonna watch me sleep?" Danny opened his eyes to slits.

"Yep."

"You're a freak, you know that right?"

"Go to sleep, Danny." Steve ordered while picking up the magazine and searching out the article he was previously reading.

5-0-5-0-5-0-5-0

Two days later found a much happier Danny. The NG feeding had been stopped, and the tube removed. One final dose of antibiotics later that evening would see the IV removed also, and Danny would finally be tube free. Dr. Pearce was already talking about discharging him the next day.

Danny was dying to get out of there, and had spoken to Rachel to arrange for Grace to come home the day after, allowing Danny a night at home, just him and Steve, to settle back into home life.

Reclined on his bed, and starting to regret turning down the pain relief that Katie had offered him, he attempted to flick through a magazine, while running his hand up and down his suture line. After reading the same paragraph three times he admitted defeat, dropped the magazine down, and buzzed for Katie.

"Danny you ok?" Katie popped her head around the door.

"Yeah, just could I get some pain relief now, please, I'm pretty uncomfortable."

"No problem, I thought you were being brave turning it down." She smiled and went to fetch the medication, saying hello to Chin and Kono as she left.

"Hey, Danny." Chin greeted as they entered the room.

"Looking good, brah." Kono beamed, seeing Danny looking the best he had in days.

"Hey guys. No Steve?" Danny looked around them expecting his partner to come bounding in.

"No, he's gone to see the Governor, finalise his leave. Then he's gonna head to his and pack some things to take to yours, and get some shopping in. We told him we'd keep you entertained tonight."

"It's good to see you guys." Danny smiled.

"Here you go, Danny." Katie popped back into the room with Danny's medication and a supplement drink. "You like the chocolate one, right?"

"It's the best of a bad bunch." Danny answered, screwing up his nose at the milky drink.

"How about you drink that, and then you can have some of this?" Kono held up a carton from Kamekona's. The smell immediately hit Danny's nostrils and he smiled as he recognised his favourite garlic shrimp.

"Deal." Danny picked up the straw and pierced the foil lid before taking a long drink, then using the rest of the drink to take his pain relief.

Katie smiled and left Danny with his friends who were already setting up the garlic shrimp. She was relieved to see Danny finally showing signs of an appetite.

Chin and Kono unpacked meals for themselves, and the three sat eating, and chatting. Danny did really well with his meal, and once the painkillers had kicked in, he was much more relaxed.

"So how long do you think it will be before you and Steve want to kill each other?" Kono smirked.

"I guess it depends on how well he plays mother hen." Danny smiled back.

"I'd say about 24 hrs then." Chin joked.

"Give or take a few." Kono agreed.

"How about we swing by in the evening? Keep you guys' company?"

"That sounds good." Danny agreed, "But only if you promise to bring me junk food. You know Steve is going to be buying nothing but health food."

"Danny, you have a careful diet to stick to for a while." Kono chastised.

"I know, but ice cream is good for me. And none of that frozen yoghurt stuff, I mean the real thing, and surely a few cocoa puffs can't hurt."

"We'll see what we can do." Kono promised while clearing away the food cartons.

"Thanks," Danny sighed, stomach now full and pain killers taking full effect, he could feel the pull of sleep beckoning him.

"I think it's time for us to head home, cuz." Chin watched as Danny try to stifle a yawn.

"You don't have to go." Danny rubbed his eyes.

"You look tired, Danny, get some sleep, you'll need it. Big day tomorrow, finally going home." Kono told him.

"You know, I use that speech on Grace to get her to go to bed early."

"Well then you should listen to yourself." Chin patted his friend on the shoulder to wish him good night. "The sooner you sleep, the sooner you get out of here."

"You have a point." Danny smiled already reaching for the bed remote to recline the bed.

"Night, brah." The cousins said in unison, waving to Katie on their way out.

Ten minutes later she slipped into Danny's room to find him sleeping already. She carefully connected his last dose of antibiotics, and pulled the blanket up over her favourite patient. She could see why her friend Dawn liked him, and the rest of his Ohana, so much.

 **TBC**


	11. Chapter 11

**Note: Well it's time to end this one. A big thanks to wenwalke for all the help she always gives me. And thank you to everyone who has read and reviewed. This one has got my most reviews ever and I was nervous about posting it because it focused on the medical recovery side.**

 **Six chapters completed for the next one so hopefully won't be too long.**

 **Chapter Eleven**

Chin and Kono had been wrong with their 24 hr guess. In fact it had taken a mere six hours. Steve had arrived early at the hospital, and helped Danny pack all his things away, much to Danny's annoyance. He hadn't wanted to pack anything in case it jinxed his discharge. Thankfully it hadn't, and Dr. Pearce had been happy to sign the papers. Then they had stopped off at the pharmacy to fill the prescriptions for antibiotics, pain relief, and supplement drinks, and Steve had insisted Danny wait in the car, despite Danny saying he wanted to stretch his legs.

They had made it back to Danny's, and Steve had ordered him to rest on the couch, practically tucking him in with a blanket then going to unpack his partners' things. Danny flicked on the TV and brought up a football game that he had recorded. Steve returned from the kitchen with two bottles of water, and one of Danny's nutritional drinks, and handed it to his friend.

"I'll just take the water for now." Danny placed the drink on the coffee table.

"Danny, you heard what Dr. Pearce said, you have to drink at least two of those a day. Have one now and I'll make us some lunch in a bit."

"I don't want it now, Steven. I'll have it after lunch."

"But, Danny." Steve started, but Danny interrupted.

"Don't, but Danny, me. I appreciate that you're staying and helping me out, but I don't need you bossing me around."

"Somebody has to keep an eye on you, Danny. A few days ago you pushed yourself so hard you made yourself sick. I'm not gonna let that happen again."

"No chance of that happening." Danny huffed.

"Just drink the supplement, Danny."

"You drink the damn supplement, Steve. They taste like crap."

"They can't be that bad." Steve's voice raised a little. "You need to drink it Danny, you've lost enough weight already."

"They are that bad, go on try it." Danny thrust the drink at the bossy SEAL.

Steve snatched the drink and took a sip, to prove a point, only to pull a face in disgust.

"My god, what the hell flavour is that?" He grabbed his water and washing away the horrid taste.

"It's supposed to be banana, but it tastes like crap, I didn't want it putting me off my lunch. I only like the chocolate and strawberry ones."

"Well why didn't you say that? I'd have got you a different one. I'll take the others back tomorrow and get them to swap them." Steve grabbed the drink, throwing it in the trash.

"Because I didn't want to be a bother, you've already spent most of your time off at the hospital the past two weeks, now you're moving in here and running around after me, tucking me in." Danny said pushing off the blanket. "Please Steve, can we just hang out? If I need help I'll ask for it, and I promise not to over do it."

"Sure we can." Steve sat back and put his feet up. "This the patriots game? Cool, I want to see their winning touchdown."

"Seriously?" Danny looked dumbfounded at his friend.

"What?" Steve asked confused.

"You just told me who won, you goof."

"You didn't already know?"

"No. I was kinda unconscious at the time." Danny fumed.

"Sorry Danno."

"I'm still watching it." Danny grabbed a cushion and swinging his legs up on the couch so he could lie down.

By the time the game finished, Steve was the only one to see the winning touchdown. Danny had fallen asleep just after the last quarter, and was sleeping peacefully. Steve picked up the remote and saved the game for Danny to watch later. He then picked up the blanket and covered his friend, before heading to the kitchen to start making some lunch for when Danny awoke. He made him self a coffee and headed out into Danny's garden.

An hour later, Danny sleepily joined him with his own cup of coffee, and lowered himself carefully into the chair next to Steve.

"Good sleep?"

"Yeah, but my rib is protesting now." Danny rubbed at his fractured rib.

Steve jumped up to grabbed Danny's pain medication, and antibiotics, that were now due. He returned with them, along with the lunch he had made. Danny gratefully accepted them, and Steve was please to see he manage nearly all the sandwich.

Not long after, Chin and Kono arrived and joined them.

"Mind if we join you?" Chin put down a box of Cocoa puffs on the table. Danny's eyes lit up, and he reached to grab one.

"I'm not sure these are on your approved food list." Steve reached out and grabbed the box.

"Seriously, you said yourself I've lost weight. These will help me gain it back. Now hand them over, or I'll go fetch my gun."

"Alright, alright." Steve passed the box to Danny.

Kono watched as the blonde devoured the yummy treat. She leaned over and whispered so Steve couldn't hear. "Chocolate fudge ice cream is in the freezer."

"Have I told you I love you?" Danny whispered back.

"Just don't over do it, I don't want to be responsible for you being ill."

"I promise." Danny agreed.

The four friends sat talking, and relaxing, in each other's company. Grateful that Danny was healing and finally home, and they had the time together. Steve then grilled them all fish, while Kono took care of the salad. Danny carefully started setting the dining table, not wanting to just sit there while his friends worked. They all sat down to eat the meal. Not long after the meal, Danny started to flag again.

"Guys, I'm beat. I'm gonna head to bed." Danny apologised, knowing it was still fairly early.

"Don't worry, Danny, you just have a good nights sleep." Kono started to clear the table.

"You need a hand?" Steve asked as Danny carefully stood.

"No, I'm good. I'm just gonna hit the bathroom then bed." Danny replied. "You want me to help clean up first?"

"We got it, Danny." Chin encouraged his friend to get some rest.

"Ok, night guys." Danny headed off, his bed calling.

Steve, Chin, and Kono finished cleaning up then the cousins headed home. Steve went to the bedroom to see if Danny needed anything else, and was surprised to see him already sleeping. The bedside lamp was still on, but Steve decided to leave it in case Danny woke in the night and was disorientated. Having spent time in the hospital himself, he knew how it could feel the first night home, after a prolonged stay. Danny looked the most settled Steve had seen him since the whole nightmare began. His medication bottles at the side of his bed, indicating he'd taken the prescribed medication before settling down for the night. He was still pale, but looked a million miles away from how he had looked just over a week before.

Steve retreated from the bedroom, sat down in the living room, and flicked on the TV, keeping one ear in Danny's direction in case he needed any help. Whether Danny wanted to admit it, or not, he was going to need help for a few days, and Steve was going to be there to help him. If the situation had been reversed Danny would do exactly the same for him, because that was how their Ohana worked.

 **THE END**


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